ADDICT. Addictive Design in Digital Consumer Technologies

Addictive design strategies – such as feeds that enable infinite scrolling, autoplay of content, advertisements, or push notifications that prompt immediate action through artificially generated urgency – are associated with compulsive and addiction-like patterns of use. Such patterns can negatively affect users’ health, productivity, and overall quality of life. Despite growing awareness of these risks, which disproportionately affect children and adolescents, regulatory measures remain limited. The aim of the ADDICT research project is to foreground the business strategies of platform companies as well as their design practices that are deliberately oriented toward fostering compulsive user behavior. The research question is: “How can social media platforms be assessed and categorized based on their addictive risks?” This question is addressed through (1) the systematic identification and classification of risks associated with addictive design features and processes on digital platforms, and (2) the development of a risk taxonomy that enables public authorities to assess addiction-promoting design practices and processes and to counteract them through regulatory measures. Finally, two case studies of TikTok and Instagram are conducted to illustrate how social media platforms popular among adolescents can be systematically classified according to the risk posed by their addictive design elements.